Checking In

Just checking in to let you all know that I'm still here. :) I won't be back to regular posting until next week. Mike and the kids are home and we are really enjoying having some quiet days with nothing on the agenda. I haven't even been grocery shopping. We've been eating out of the pantry (although I will probably venture out to get some black-eyed peas for New Year's Day).

I got a new crock pot for Christmas so you can expect to see some slow cooker recipes coming soon. I can't wait to use it!

Sunset Christmas Night

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1 (ESV)

Favorite Posts of 2008

Merry Christmas
I thought it would be fun as the year comes to an end to look back over my blog and find my favorite posts of 2008. I'll be taking a break for a few days to spend time with my family, and now you can have something to read while I'm gone. I'll probably still be updating my Twitter from time to time so you can see what I'm up to there. :)

Have a wonderful Christmas and remember that it's not about us...it's about Christ! :)

January

Paper, Paper Everywhere My tips for organizing paper (still something that I struggle with).

February

It's finished! (My bathroom makeover)
Frugal Valentine's Day (some no cost Valentine's Day ideas)

March

Coming Home (a post encouraging a commenter in her journey home)
A Day in My Life: March (My first day in my life post)

April

Romance Novels (One of my favorite authors)
Power in Words (How do we talk to ourselves and others about frugality?)

May

Challah (one of my favorite bread recipes)
Why I Love Summer (my top 10 reasons)

June

Easiest Cake Ever (always a favorite around here)
Easy Homemade Salsa (one of most requested recipes)

July

Look on the bright side (the bright side of the things our husbands do that drive us crazy)
Smells Like Home (keeping your home smelling sweet)

August

Homestead Biscuits (a very easy biscuit recipe)
Chocolate Chip Cookies (our all time favorite cookie recipe)

September

Caring for your front loading washing machine (I'm still loving mine)
How to survive cold and flu season

October

Apple Cobbler
I Hate Smoke Detectors (our middle of the night adventure)

November

Buttermilk Bread (another great bread recipe)
Laundry System (learning to deal with laundry)

December

Russian Tea Cakes (yummy little cookies)

Winter is Here!

Once Upon a Winters Night
No snow or ice, but we are snugged up tight against the bitter wind. We can hear it blowing and it is so nice to be inside. Hope you are all staying warm!

New Traditions

Candles and a Christmas Tree Through a Window
We have some Christmas traditions that don't change from year to year, but we also like to try out new traditions too. This year we've added a couple that I think we will keep.

We keep all the Christmas cards we receive in a decorative basket in the entryway. This year we are bringing the basket to the table at supper and one of the kids picks a card out of the basket, When we pray before we eat, we pray for the family who sent us the card. It's a nice way to remember to pray for our friends and family.

The second tradition that we are trying out is "secret pals". I thought it would be fun if we put all of our names in a hat and each draw a name. We are going to try to do nice things for our secret pal (preferably free things) and then we'll all reveal our pals on Christmas morning. It's fun to watch the kids try to think up what to do that won't get them "caught". They are enjoying the "sneakiness factor" of the whole thing. I'm hoping that this will promote a little sibling love and togetherness.

If you have any great free secret pal ideas I would love to hear them. So far they have done things like make beds for secret pals, leave pieces of candy on pillows and write notes in handwriting that's supposed to look like someone else's.

What are your favorite traditions? Do any of them change from year to year?

A Little Ramble

I don't have anything pressing to tell you about so I thought I would share some random thoughts and pictures from my day. :) Hope you don't mind!

I joined my mom today for some last minute Christmas shopping (and yes the stores were crowded). I got some cute fabric in the remnants bin at Hobby Lobby to make more of my bed buddies for gifts. I love mine and use it every night to warm my icy feet.

When I got home with the kids I started on some banana bread for Mike to take to work. If any of you were harboring illusions that I am a perfect baker, this should set you straight. :) I cooked the bread even longer than usual and it still wasn't getting done in the middle. I finally pulled it out of the oven and the middle fell. The kids were happy though because that means they get to eat it instead. I really don't know what happened. I don't have any more bananas so I'll have to figure out another goody for Mike to take to work.

I made my "fallback" supper of Beef Macaroni. It's what I make when I don't really feel like cooking. I always have the ingredients on hand and it is quick and simple to make.

Cindy had to do some homework on the water cycle so we spent some time googling it.

I have some not too pretty but free "potpourri" simmering on the stove and the kitchen smells so good.

Look at the cute book I got for an early Christmas present from Mike (picked out by me). It has so many great ideas. I can't wait to dig into it.



Now it's time to sit on the couch and enjoy a peaceful evening.

This is the view from my favorite spot on the couch.

I hope you all had a lovely day!

Gingerbread Houses

Instead of making "real" gingerbread houses, the girls and I made gingerbread house cookies yesterday. We used the Betty Crocker gingerbread cookie mix (super good sale plus coupon made it a great deal) and this idea was on the back of the mix.

We cut out 8 squares and 8 triangles (for the roof) to make the cookies, and I made this icing (except I halved it). If I had planned this ahead of time it would have been fun to have some little candies or more colors of food coloring to decorate the cookies, but the girls had a great time with what I had on hand.

These cookies were so easy to make, required no special equipment or even cookie cutters and tasted good too. I think we'll definitely put these in the "make again next year" file. :)

What Christmas is all about

I just love A Charlie Brown Christmas. We still have the movie on VHS. One of these days we'll have to get a copy on DVD. We watch it every year.

Old Fashioned Christmas

Victorian Home Scene
Mike and Bobby are off pheasant hunting with friends this weekend, so I planned something fun for Greg, the girls and I last night. We have a local museum that puts on a "vintage Christmas" every year. Museum volunteers dress up in Pioneer and Victorian style clothing and do traditional Christmas activities by lantern and candle light. The public can wander through the displays and buy hot apple cider and hot cocoa. Much of it is outside and unheated so the hot drinks are perfect. There were couples dancing to fiddle music, ladies knitting and singing Christmas carols, children helping "grandma" to bake cookies at the wood stove and even cowboys with their chuck wagon and campfire. Not a TV or computer in sight. Although it was sort of strange when we caught a glimpse of one of the "off duty" volunteers talking on her cell phone while dressed in a pioneer dress and apron. :)

Every year I want to turn around and leave when we pull up and the parking lot is full to overflowing, but I'm so glad we always stay. We have a good time and it puts us in the mood for some simple Christmas fun. Last night we had some nice talks about how hard it would have been to live back then without central heating and running water, but how families were so close and relied on one another. My girls have decided that we should make some pioneer style dresses, but I'm not sure my sewing skills are up to that. Are there such things as "super easy" patterns for those sorts of dresses?

What about you? Does your town have any special Christmas traditions?

Washing Dishes

Washing Dishes
My dishwasher finally bit the dust (I've known it was coming) and I'm now having to wash my dishes by hand. Funny thing is, I don't really mind. I'm not in a huge hurry to get another one. I've lived without a dishwasher before and I can do it again. The girls have been drying while I wash and I enjoy that time with them in the kitchen.

I was telling the boys that the only thing that would make it better was if I had a dish drainer. I don't like laying out the dishes on a towel while they are waiting to be dried. Well, quite often my children are smarter than I am. Greg pointed to the dishwasher and said "You have a huge dish drainer right there. Just wash the dishes and put them in the dishwasher." Now why didn't I think of that? He just saved me at least $10! :) We tried it last night and it worked perfectly.

Candy Cane Cookies and Christmas Garland

This afternoon the girls and I made candy cane cookies. I found the recipe at The Homespun Heart. They are really good and it was fun rolling the dough and forming it into the candy cane shapes.

Candy Cane Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. red food coloring

Cream together butter, shortening, sugar and egg until light and fluffy. Add extracts. Gradually stir in flour. Divide dough in half. Add food coloring to one half and mix well. Wrap each half in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour (or you can freeze the dough at this point). Preheat oven to 375. Roll cookies to long ropes twisting together one of each color to form the candy cane shape. Bake 9 to 10 minutes. If desired, brush with egg white and sprinkle with crushed candy cane.

The girls also made this Names of Jesus garland along the lines of one we saw at The Homespun Heart. She has a tutorial if you want to know how to make one.


The girls love to be crafty and this was a fun and easy project for them. I didn't laminate it so it may only last through the season, but that's OK. We can make another one next year. :)

Have you done anything Christmassy this week?

Russian Tea Cakes

These are the cookies from yesterday's pictures. I made them Saturday and they are already all gone! They were SO good! They just melt in your mouth.

I found the recipe at BettyCrocker.com.

1 cup butter softened (I used real butter)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.
3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.
5. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on a wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

The recipe says it makes 4 dozen cookies, but I made mine a little big so it made about 3 dozen.

Restful Sunday

I hope you are all having a beautiful, restful Sunday afternoon.

Christmas Decorations

We've had so much fun decorating our house for Christmas this week. I thought I would share a couple of pictures with you. I love it when the house looks so festive and smells like Christmas cookies and cinnamon potpourri.

Last night we finally had everything finished and spent a quiet evening by the fire in our snuggly PJs watching TV and enjoying the pretty lights on the tree. It was warm and cozy and such a treat. I can't think of anything I would rather be doing on a Thursday evening.

Giveaway: A Free Guide on How To Host a Holiday Party

I'm so happy to have a great giveaway for ALL 50s Housewife readers. Yeah! It's a 17 page eGuide on how to host a Christmas Party that is low on stress, mess and expense and high on Holiday Spirit! The "Holiday Giving Party - Cookie Exchange" can be downloaded free (no email required) at http://www.partybluprints.com/Articles.asp?ID=154. I read it and it has lots of great ideas.

I love cookie exchange parties! At our previous church, the ladies in my Sunday School had one every year and I've hosted one here at my house before. We had lots of fun and I still have copies of all the recipes.

If you are wanting to host a Christmas party, but don't know where to begin, this eGuide is a great place to start,

Getting Ready for Christmas

Decorated Christmas Tree
Mike is home today (he had to work Friday) so we are getting all the Christmas decorations down from the attic. He has the ladder out and we'll be on the roof shortly...well, he'll be on the roof and I'll be standing on the ground fretting and praying. :) I don't do heights and it scares me as much to have him on the roof as it does to be up there myself.

The kids will be so excited when they get home!

I'll be scarce around here today because I also have some cleaning and laundry to catch up on. Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!